Lidsky speaks on voting rights at Obama rally

Professor Lyrissa Lidsky speaks in front of a crowd of 10,000 at a Michelle Obama speech on Oct. 22. (UF Law/Chen Wang)

Professor Lyrissa C. Barnett Lidsky spoke Wednesday to the largest group she’s ever spoken to—a crowd of over 10,000 people.

Lidsky was one of many local citizens to warm up the crowd for Michelle Obama, presidential candidate Barack Obama’s wife. The event took place at the Hippodrome as part of the Obama campaign’s “Early Vote for Change” tour.

“I am so proud to be here today and to be part of this historic moment,” Lidsky said at the rally. “I’m so glad to see all of you because I know that you want to make your voice heard in this election and you’re going to do it.”

Lidsky and local attorney Cherie Fine are heading Alachua County’s voter protection team for the Obama campaign. Lidsky and Fine have over 100 volunteers in Alachua County to make sure that every vote counts. There will be someone from the team at almost every polling place in the county to ensure things run smoothly. There is also a member of the voter protection team at each of the three early voting locations in the county.

The Obama campaign is assembling voter protection teams all across the country in battleground states. John McCain’s campaign is allowed to have someone at the polls also, Lidsky said. Both candidates have sections of their Web sites for people to volunteer monitoring the election.

Lidsky encouraged voters to go to a member of the team if they had any problem voting.

In her speech, Lidsky told the crowd how easy it was to vote and dispelled some common voting myths.

In Florida, you can wear candidate paraphernalia to the polls despite Internet rumors saying you cannot vote if you do.

“You may have heard some rumors telling you that voting is hard,” Lidsky said at the rally. “I’m here to tell you that voting is easy.”